A SPECIAL cricket match will take place next weekend on the Common at Broughton Gifford. The event, which is part of the Frome Festival, has links to local families whose members played cricket in the village before the First World War.
Martin Bax, who is president of the annual Frome Festival, now in its 17th year, explains, “Broughton Gifford Manor was the base for Clifford and Arnold Bax’s legendary cricket tours before the First World War.
“This year, the New Bax Broughtonians, at least half of them from the Bax family, will play the village team captained by Tom Gerrish. His great-grandfather, Charles, played in the 1912 match, when Edward Thomas scored 2 runs for the Bax team.”
Altogether, seven members of the Bax family are expected to play in the match. “Cricket runs in my family,” added Martin. “Two of my uncles played Minor Counties cricket for Cornwall.”
The captain of the Bax team will be Martin’s brother James, whose two sons will also be playing.
Cricket and the arts have always overlapped in the Bax family. Sir Arnold Bax was a famous composer and Master of the King’s Musick, while his brother Clifford was a popular West End playwright. A second Martin Bax was a distinguished consultant paediatrician, as well as the editor of the famous avant garde arts magazine Ambit. Its present editor is Briony Bax.
The cricket match is on Sunday 16th July from 2pm and is free to attend. Refreshments are available at The Bell on the Common. More information about the festival can be found on the website www.fromefestival.co.uk
